Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
To many sports fans MTK are now a toxic brand
conlan title tilt should be the story
DESTINY. That was the word Jamie Conlan reached for in Belfast’s Europa Hotel on Thursday.
On March 12, his brother, Michael, will fight Leigh Wood for the WBA world featherweight title.
The brothers have always been close. Now they’re partners in their own management company, Conlan Boxing, too.
Recent signings include top Irish amateurs Kurt Walker and Kieran Molloy.
The hard sell for Conlan’s world title shot started this week, with press conferences in Nottingham, Wood’s hometown, on Wednesday and Belfast a day later. And, in the Europa Hotel, Jamie put into words what is at stake.
“What this means to Michael, what this means to the family, what this means to Ireland,’’
“He’s carried the flag of Ireland since 2012 — pressure on his shoulders that other fighters cannot comprehend. This is Michael’s destiny.”
What this means to Ireland... let’s look into that.
The Belfast media gave blanket coverage to both press conferences, the coverage south of the border was tiny.
As the fight grows closer, there will be more but there are reasons why Conlan doesn’t have the standing that he once had.
Rewind to 2015 when the shortlist for RTE’s Sportsperson of the Year award was released.
Among those on the list were Paul O’Connell, Rory McIlroy, Conor McGregor, Jack McCaffrey and TJ Reid but there was no argument with the decision — the consensus was that RTE got it right when giving their award to Conlan.
Popular
Conlan had become the first Irishman to be amateur world champion and was a hugely popular figure having taken Olympic bronze three years earlier in London.
The summer after receiving the RTE gong, he headed to the Rio Olympics as a medal favourite. Conlan’s actions there made global headlines, and played a significant part in the reform of amateur boxing.
His controversial loss to Vladimir Nikitin, coupled with his straight finger salute to the judges, and barbed interviews afterwards all influenced an investigation into how bouts were judged. Heads ended up rolling.
When he went professional, interest was so high that RTE decided to televise deferred coverage of his early fights — complete with studio analysis.
Darragh Bambrick, a filmmaker, started work on a feature length documentary — ‘Conlan: Brothers In Arms’ — on Michael and Jamie.
So why has interest south of the border in Conlan’s fortunes dwindled so much?
There’s no getting away from the MTK Global problem when we consider that question.
A company co-founded by Daniel Kinahan — there is no need any more to explain who he is — and one where he still advises many of their fighters.
That was something Sandra Vaughan, CEO of MTK, made clear in a statement in May 2020. “Everyone knows, legally and legitimately, I purchased the business from Matthew Macklin in 2017. There are no ties to Daniel Kinahan, there was no contract or financial transaction, absolutely nothing,’’ she said.
Advisor
“He hasn’t got anything to do with MTK Global. We manage fighters, that’s our role, a fighter has a team, not just a manager, a team. A trainer, a cutman, a nutritionist, an S&C coach, and 99 per cent of the time they will have an advisor.
“Daniel advises fighters, and they will be recommended to MTK Global if they’ve not got a manager, which I’m totally grateful for, as we’ve had some really good fighters come to MTK because of Daniel’s recommendation.
“Daniel’s not the only person that recommends fighters to us, there are other people too. Some of the high profile fighters that Daniel advises will probably go elsewhere because they don’t want to come to MTK Global, it’s just a recommendation.”
To many sports fans, MTK are now a toxic brand and they don’t want anything to do with them. This world title fight, though, has MTK written all over it.
Jamie Conlan had a spell as Vice President of MTK Global.
Michael Conlan is still listed on MTK’s website as one of their boxers.
Trained
Conlan is trained by Adam Booth, who is on the MTK payroll. MTK signed Wood in an advisory deal last summer. Ben Davison, his trainer, has worked for MTK for some time.
Indeed, Davison has been especially vocal in his public support for Kinahan.
Consider the following from last May. “No-one who deals with Daniel has anything negative to say about him,’’ said Davison in a YouTube interview with James English.
“I’ve spent time around him and his family and never heard him discuss this stuff that he’s allegedly involved in, or used to be involved in or whatever. Daniel is a good man with a good heart and in it for the right reasons — in it for the boxers.
“He’s like an advisor with the MTK situation now. Of course, he helps fighters gets deals, puts deals together for fighters, puts deals together for MTK.”
There are issues that have emerged around this venture and Michael Conlan’s situation that prompted us to send a list
of questions to Conlan Boxing on Wednesday.
These concerned Conlan’s relationship with MTK Global, as well as queries about how Conlan Boxing is financed.
There was no response from Conlan Boxing to these questions.
Perception
If Conlan becomes world champion in March, the perception would be that he might well win the RTE award for the second time. But that would bring to mind the TJ Doheny situation in 2018.
The Portlaoise boxer had become IBF super bantamweight champion in August of that year by beating local favourite Ryosuke Iwasa in Tokyo.
But he didn’t make the RTE shortlist after the judges — this writer was one of them — agreed that the MTK connection to Doheny couldn’t be overlooked. He signed with the management c ompany i n August 2018.
It was the first time a world champion in any sport hadn’t made the cut but it reflected a common view that MTK links puts you beyond the pale.
Last September, promoter Eddie Hearn ruffled feathers at Sky Sports during an interview with IFL TV.
Hearn had a working relationship with Sky for years but has now thrown his lot in with DAZN.
Asked
In that interview, Hearn was asked about three fighters who left his stable — Hughie Fury, Savannah Marshall and Lewis Ritson.
All three are tied to MTK Global, the company which Kinahan owned for a long time.
“Those three in particular (are) managed by MTK, and I think their advisor Daniel spoke to us and Sky — and basically, this was a massive opportunity for them,’’ said Hearn.
Kinahan has been described as an “advisor’’ by both himself and some boxers, and the assumption was that Hearn was referring to Kinahan.
A few hours after that interview, Sky issued a statement denying that they had dealt with Kinahan.
No-one goes into the pro game for any reason other than money. The risks are too great.
Boxers like Conlan, Davy Oliver Joyce and the sinceretired Paddy Barnes received significant sums of taxpayers’ money during their amateur days.
After the Rio Olympics, they went pro and ended up with MTK. Does the amateur governing body, the IABA, not have anything to say about this?
Are they happy with boxers being moulded on State aid and then going to an organisation with a questionable back story as to how it was funded in the early days?
Professional
The Boxing Union of Ireland (BUI) are in charge of the professional sport here.
Do they think it’s acceptable that so many Irish pros have got into bed with MTK?
The ball started rolling on Conlan v Wood this week, and will gather momentum in the weeks to come.
It’s a fight we should all be looking forward to.
What a shame that we’ve ended up where we are.
‘Do the BUI think it’s acceptable that so many Irish pros have got into bed with MTK?’